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Friday, August 10, 2012

Sometimes you give things a whirl and they just don't work out. We have learned to appreciate that around here. We try things, and if/when they don't go exactly as planned or are they don't work as effectively as they could, we revisit them.

Awhile back I had read a tip that using a towel bar in the laundry room is a great way to create a simple drying rack. So, that is what we did.

I would drape a sweater or shirt over the double rod towel bar, and it worked great.... when I only washed one delicate thing. That meant washing important pieces of clothing in shifts or laying things out over the washer, random furniture or even hanging them in the shower. I also recently decided that I would rather hang my shirts to dry vs. popping them through the dryer since it avoids any shrinking and wrinkling that is typically caused by the dryer. So, I started brainstorming ways to get a drying rack installed...

The way our laundry room is laid out, there is no room above the washer and dryer or utility sink for a drying area, so I knew it would have to be somewhere on the opposite wall. It didn't take me long to realize that a simple shimmy of the linen cabinet to the left, and I would be able to place a bar between the cabinet and the wall. Easy peasy!

But a single bar from the cabinet to the wall really wouldn't feel all that finished, so I decided to complicate the solution a smidge by adding a bridge and some molding over the top of the bar, so it felt like it was all intentional and "built in".

We started by moving the cabinet down where we wanted it, and installing a painted corbel {from Home Depot} to the side of the cabinet. To do this, we just screwed through the inside of the cabinet directly into the solid wood corbel.

As you can see in the photo, we also began the installation of the rod that would span from the cabinet to the wall. We went with an expandable closet rod from Home Depot.

We installed the second corbel by screwing directly through the corbel into the wall.

The point of the corbels was slightly decorative but mostly supportive. However, only supportive of a small piece of melamine board, cut down to the span of the cabinet to the wall.

Since that looks completely unfinished and silly, B quickly popped up a couple pieces of crown molding to finish things up a bit!

Some painters caulk filled in all of the air nail holes, screw holes and molding joints, and the last step was to install the closet rod.

Now the linen cabinet appears to be a large built in laundry land cabinet.

A view of it all straight on:

Now I am not only able to air my clean laundry, I am also airing my dirty laundry to all of blog land. Awesome.

Many fabulous things came from this project that I am pretty excited about:

I have given myself plenty of room to air dry our clothing.

Our guest bathroom has never had a towel bar, so now we can recycle the one from the laundry room to the guest bathroom.

The only real flaw with the whole setup is that there is a lot of white on white on white happening on that side of the room which is much different than the opposite side...

So I am challenging myself to solve that problem in the near future...

But for now, here is a side by side to better show where the cabinet landed:

I love when I can expand storage drying capacity, with a couple of simple steps and very little budget {we already had the melamine board and crown leftover from other projects, so it was just an investment of the corbels and closet bar}.

Don't you love how molding can instantly take a typical piece of furniture and give it such a finished and polished effect? Anyone else doing quickie modifications that make a big impact and leave you with a dorky permagrin like mine? Do tell!

Setting up somewhere to air dry my laundry was the first thing I did in the last two apartments we lived in! I did the same thing you did (except yours is clearly much prettier!) and just used a wooden dowel to make a closet bar. We don't have a lot of extra space right now, so in our current apartment the dowel is in the hallway right outside our bedroom, which is kind of a bummer when walking in and out of the room. But it's a good reminder to get the clean and dry clothes put away! :-)

Love it! How easy is it to put crown molding on top of shelving I wonder...maybe that's a good question to ask my hubby as i have a shelving unit in the basement begging for a more polished look like you have achieved. Thanks for the great blog :-)

Holy cow, I LOVE this! We are moving to a new house next week and have been racking my brain on how to come up with a pretty hanging area in our very large laundry room (that I am overly excited for!). Thanks for the great post and awesome idea :)

Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this! First of all the size of your laundry room is great. Mine at the moment is a separate room but so tiny that when you open the door (that swings inside) it clears the washing machine by 1/3inch. :O No room for storage or airing. :( Maybe one day. Trying to be positive as this is only temporary. Dealing with laundry is highly underestimated and the space that it takes to do it properly. Proper laundry/utility rooms are super important!!!

Jen this is so awesome!!! I heart how this project turned out. You really do come up with awesome ideas. I really do love how crown molding can finish a piece off. I can't wait until we start to do crown molding in the rest of our home. We only have it in our Family Room so far and it really does finish off a room. It's like forgetting to put jewelry on when you are all dress up.

I actually have something in the works to organize our kitchen better. Hopefully I can get some of it done this weekend. You have been a huge inspiration and a wealth of knowledge for all the organizing I have done so far in our home and you keep inspiring me all the time to do more. Thank you. Have a great weekend!!! :)

I've never had enough room to have a permanent drying space in my laundry area. I usually end up popping the hangers up in doorways where we knock them down as we walk past. But I do line dry most things anyway, so it isn't too much of a problem, except for my husband's dress shirts.

I love the built in look. The whole thing looks great. Is it silly that my favorite thing is the white wood hangers? I have never seen them. We have the wood ones, but I like the white so much better. I see a trip to Ikea in my future.

My retractable drying line still makes me smile. :) It's like the kind you find in a hotel bathroom, but it has 4 lines that pull out and attach to the opposite wall. When I'm done with it, it all zips back, practically out of sight.

It's Trafficmaster Allure Ultra in Cinnamon and we found it at our local Home Depot. It is a rubber composite laminate and it installed quite quickly. It just snapped together over our concrete, and we went with it throughout the entire lower level since we are prone to flooding and it is essentially water proof.

I have been trying to come up with the best way to do EXACTLY this in my laundry room between the wall and cabinetry above my w/d. I love the way that you handled it. Thanks for the inspiration! I've got several new ideas swirling around in my head now.

I just recently discovered your blog thru an article in Ladies Journal. You are definitely talented and creative. Love this room, actually kinda' similar to mine but mine's a little more "dark" (e.g. black accents :-)).

This is just a GORGEOUS laundry room! I love white. :)AAAAND I love color! :) Regarding color, what about some funky colorful door handles? Or colorful storage on the top of the cabinet? Or crayon marks by a little one??? :) :) :)

Lol, I have no idea. Sometimes I wish I could just shut my brain off since it is constantly thinking up something new... haha. Most times it just takes problem solving solutions that bring me to my ultimate vision of a space. It doesn't always come to me right away, I have a lot of light bulb moments. :)

You are by far my favorite organizing blog! In terms of adding color, is that cabinet from Ikea? Have you heard of Mykea? It's custom art specifically for Ikea furniture. It's at www.thisismykea.com Just a thought! Keep up the good work!!!Winter

I thought you were going to take a break after the adrenaline high of BH&G? Thank goodness you're not. I was just recently thinking about doing something similar to two shelves with a dresser in between-tv on top set up. Now I know how! Color: could you unscrew the handles and give them a little spray paint? It all looks great as is, but I love spray painting things. My permagrin comes from my husband saying lately "I really like all this organizing..."

Nicely done, Jen, and like Peta says, colored baskets would add color. Not to put any pressure on, but I've dropped all my other organization blogs and am totally dependent on your keen eye and talent!

Great change, Jen. We have something similar, but I love the idea of extending our shelf over the rod like you do to make it look built in. Always thinking over there. My wooden hangers were brown so I just painted them a pale blue to look cuter in the laundry room.

I heart your blog! You are a true inspiration! I have spent at least $400 at the Container Store since I found you 3 weeks ago. I keep a wish list on their website of stuff to buy as I tackle each room. Thanks for sharing your wonderful projects! :)

PS thanks for the intro The Paper Source too in your earlier post. I'm heading over there next weekend. I MUST have some of the bicycle paper!! ;)

Looks great! If you find you need additional drying space, you can do the same thing from the far side of the cabinet to the far wall, too (and expand the crown molding of course.) I hang a ton of stuff to dry myself, this would be great for us.

Love the white on white -- I think, with the blue hampers, it totally works! So clean and fresh.

Also, I LOVE the way you lay out your pictures in your blog. Many organizing blogs know how to organize, but they do not know how to show off their work, and the blog page often looks cluttered/uninspiring. Not you... your work shines through your photos and it is so inspiring! Thank you!

I love this idea- so creative! I was looking for a way to make a built-in 'looking' wardrobe for our closet-less bedroom. I was trying to figure out a way to do so using a 10-cube bookcase for folded clothes and a closet rod. I am going to steal your idea ; ) Isn't mimicry the sincerest form of flattery?

They are from Crate & Barrel and then I used my Silhouette CAMEO to cut the labels and ironed them onto the hampers. You can find all the details here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/02/laundry-land-labels-and-some-tips-too.html

Love the laundry room! Where did you get the letters that are on the hampers and the "Tools" caddy? They are so adorable and I can't seem to find anything like them online. Thanks for the inspiration!! :)

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